Yigal Adato: 00:01 Hey pawn family its Yigal, and welcome back to another episode of the Pawn Leaders Podcast. I’m finally home after a week traveling out in North Carolina and Virginia and it’s always such a pleasure to visit different pawnshops, to coach pawn shops and just to have conversations with staff about what’s working, what’s not working in their stores to help you guys improve your operation. If you haven’t watched my video on at the Pawn Leaders on Facebook, go to facebook.com/pawnleaders and there’s a couple of videos where I talk about exactly what I learned when I was out in North Carolina and Virginia. I visited some new stores, I visited some big, big stores with multiple locations and just learn so much from that time I was there and I want to share with you guys to improve your operation. One of the stores that went out there has over a thousand reviews in their locations. It’s pretty, pretty crazy. So a quick mention about our sponsor here for the podcast. Without them, this podcast wouldn’t happen and that’s podium. Podium really has such an incredible software tool to help you get more and more reviews from your clients. And it’s so easy to use. So many people in my groups are having 300, 400, 500 reviews just by using podium. And because you’re a listener of the podcast podium is giving you 10% off of your monthly subscription. So if you want to beat the competition, if you want to get reviews from your clients to show that you’re the better choice, go to podium.com/pawnleaders again, that’s podium.com/pawnleaders and talk to the team to see how they can help you out. Become a better business on Google and even rank higher when you’ve got better reviews. So now onto the conversation. My podcast today is with Nir Megnazi. And Nir I’ve been following him on Facebook and LinkedIn. We’ve trained at the same public speaking school which he’s a part of as well. And he’s just such an incredible leadership coach and a coach in his company. So, Nir has managed teams for the last 13 years and he was an officer in the Israeli reserve duty or he is an officer in the Israel reserve duty for more than 20 years. He’s a certified leadership coach and who focuses on building powerful teams. He’s a speaker and he’s an author of the forthcoming book, The Manager’s Handbook, which has a goal to help managers and leaders gain the right mindset to invest in their team while giving real life strategies and tactics to handle day to day challenges in a fast moving world. He’s married, he’s got four boys and has a black belt Jiu-jitsu, which usually prevents his pants from falling off, which I think is hilarious, but also the most important thing with Nir, we talk about how to have courageous and difficult conversations with a pawn pirate of your crew or just an employee who has bad body odor We’d go over that with Nir or just somebody that you need to coach to help them become better in your store because you actually believe in them. So listen up. This is such an incredible podcast filled with amazing information, how to grow your culture from a standpoint of having those difficult conversations that you have to have as a leader. So check out my podcast with Nir Megnazi.

Yigal Adato: 03:24 Hey everyone, my name is Yigal Adato and this is the Pawn Leaders Podcast, a podcast that help you make more money, stress less, and live an epic life all while working at the pawn shop.

Yigal Adato: 03:45 Nir, welcome to the show.

Nir Megnazi: 03:47 Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Yigal Adato: 03:48 No, my pleasure, man. We both went through an incredible training called HBS, you’re a leadership coach and you wrote a post on Facebook about having tough conversations with coworkers and team members and I was like, that’s it. I’m going to bring you on. This is exactly what pawnbrokers need to hear and what we need to talk about in the interview. So thank you for being here.

Nir Megnazi: 04:09 Thank you.

Yigal Adato: 04:10 So obviously being a pawnbroker myself and knowing that having tough conversations with our employees are hard because we’re afraid of losing them. We’re afraid that we’ve given five years of training as pawnbroker. They know how to do everything around the store. If they leave, that means I have to work more hours. But they did something out of integrity. They did something that doesn’t go with our values that kind of pissed us off. Let’s talk about tough conversations, how to have them and so that both parties leave better after having them. But before we get into that, you talked about in the pre-interview, you talked about a conversation with somebody that you want to keep in your conversation with upon pirates. So first let’s start there. So go for it.

Nir Megnazi: 04:57 Awesome. So we have to differentiate between those two groups. The pawn pirates are those that are not the right fit for us. The other group are the ones that we see the potential of being awesome team members. It doesn’t matter whether you are in a pawn shop or in another group, doesn’t matter what you do, you know you have that in your gut feeling that you know they are the right fit for you. But they’re not quite there. They need more training, they need more time. Maybe they just needed someone to hug them. But those pawn pirates are the ones who actually harm your business. Maybe you invested so much in them, but they don’t follow through. They don’t align with your values, which is, you know that feeling over here, that you feel bad. You know that they’re not the right fit, but you’re so afraid to let them go. And of course it’s so hard just to let them go or even talk about it. But let’s talk about the long run. What will happen if you won’t do it? You’re going to suffer. Your business is going to suffer. You’re going to go to work and you’re not going to be happy. Why? Because you are always be watching about, hey, what is he doing? Is he saying the same stuff to that person again? And you were like, you don’t want that, you just don’t want that.

Yigal Adato: 06:24 So how do we start the tough conversation? First we’ll talk about the pawn pirate, right? Let’s have a conversation first of the pawn pirate and then we’ll talk about those that you want to keep on.

Nir Megnazi: 06:34 Okay. So let’s start with something which is very, very basic about both of them. As a manager, we need to care about all of them, both the pirates and the potential employees. We care about them because we’re people. We care for their benefit for their future. And if this is our baseline that care about people, then we can start from there. Is it the good thing for that pawn pirate and let’s call him Tom. Okay. Because he’s a person. So let’s be very personal with him. If I care about Tom, I know that this job is not a good fit for him. On the long run we want our employees to strive, to be successful, to be happy, to be fulfilled. Can he be fulfilled if he’s not doing very good work or if his values are not aligned? Is he the right fit for the job? No. Is it the good thing for him to go and look for something which is more suitable for him? Probably yes. So first we need to start and understand here inside our heart that this is not a good fit for him. And that letting him go. It’s not just for us, it’s for him.

Yigal Adato: 07:56 I love seeing it that way. I mean, once we put it off on it’s for them and not for us. I think it’s a little bit easier. Please continue.

Nir Megnazi: 08:04 Exactly. The way we start the conversation is with a technique I learned from the book. Never split the difference. And you interviewed Chris Voss before. He’s the guy who wrote that book. He talks about accusation audit. In negotiation, you come, you start some of their negotiation with thinking, how do they feel? What would they say about us? And you started conversation with that. So when you start or plan the discussion or conversation with Tom, you think about how would he feel when I’ll tell him, listen, we’re not a good fit. Example, he might think that you’re a bad boss. Maybe he will think that you hate him. Maybe you think that you are just, you know, you don’t like him and that’s why you’re letting him go. Write all of that down. Everything that he might think about you. And that’s how you start the conversation. And you start with, hey Tom, can we have a talk? Sure. And you go to a private place, you don’t want to have it public, not even in a coffee shop. Right? Do it somewhere privately where you will feel that he’s secure, that you are respecting his space, his feelings. Let him have that safe environment. And then start, Tom, I want to talk to you about something and when I tell you what I want to talk about, you probably feel very bad. You might get mad at me. You might feel that I’m a very bad person, that I don’t like you, that I’m cheap. You might feel all of that. What I want to tell you, everything I do is for you. Cause I respect you. I respect the time you spent with me. I respect the job and the work that you did for me. But this thing is very important for both of us. And when you’ve done this, something happens here in the psych. When you said the conversation like that, the first thing he goes to is the worst case for him. Now, it might be the worst case, but at least now he’s prepared. It’s like when someone says, Hey, let me slap you and it slaps you. It’s the same. At least you were ready. And it’s less painful than someone just, hey, how are you? Bam! And punches you in the face. Right? The surprises sometimes hurts more then being ready to get that. And that’s how you start.

Yigal Adato: 10:53 So, just to kind to clarify, you let them know that this conversation might piss them off, might make them angry and I’m going to guess at the pawn pirate in this case Tom kind of knows that it’s coming and he’s just been waiting for it a little bit. Trying to get away with as much as possible. But by you saying what I’m about to say, you’re not going to like, you might not like me, you might think I’m a bad boss. You’ve set them up for the worst case scenario as opposed to, I’m so shocked. I didn’t think this conversation was going this way. Love it. That’s awesome. So Nir, what’s the next step after that? Now you’ve set them up for the worst case scenario. Now where do we go from there?

Nir Megnazi: 11:34 Then you take care of him, which, listen, this is how I see things. You never blame anyone. You don’t use the word you. You tell them how you see your perception of reality. Listen Tom, the way I see things, and you use that, the way I see things is that we’re not the perfect match. Our values might not align the way that you address things. Maybe they’re good for you. I’m just not aligned with that. Okay? I want things to be different. Probably you felt that before and we had some discussions, but I feel that it is in your interest to go and find something else and maybe here is how I’m going to help you do that. Maybe you have a compensation plan for him. Maybe you can finance a headhunter for him. Maybe you can help him write his CV for his next job. Maybe you can even help him look. Maybe you have a friend that you know that actually Tom would be a perfect match for him. Keep caring for him and about him even when you let him go. It’s not, hey, here’s the door, out. No, I care about you as a person. I believe in your potential. It’s just that your potential is not here. You won’t be able to be to feel fulfilled here. So make sure you have a plan on how to let him go and it’s not hey, out of the door. And then speak about that.

Yigal Adato: 13:18 So you know when it comes back to memory for me when you talk about that is all the times that we sat and we had to fire employees and I think the caring about them is one of the most important pieces to this because it’s not just about caring about them in the moment that you’re going to fire them, but if they know that you care about your employees in the long run, in all of them, the conversation is much easier. I can recall firing employees where they stood up and gave me a hug and said, thank you for the opportunity Yigal. I understand I screwed this up. Or where they came into the office and said, Yigal here are the keys because I know the next conversation is you letting me go because I went pass the line. And I wasn’t. But because we cared about them so much, and I really pride myself in this in when I worked at CashCo with my brother, we cared about an employees so much that they knew this from the beginning. So if you’re an owner, a pawnshop owner who doesn’t care about their employees, that conversation’s going to be tough from the get go. You’ve got to kind of cultivate the caring from beforehand, not at the moment where you sit down, you say, I care about you, cause the guy’s gonna look at you and say that’s a bunch of crap, you know? But I think it’s cultivating it from before as well as opposed to just in the moment. Is that correct?

Nir Megnazi: 14:34 It’s not just correct. This is the foundation of Management. Foundation. This is the most important thing about being a manager and it’s caring for employees and not just scaring about how they do the work is how are they doing with their family? How are they doing financially? How’s their health? Are they happy? Now, we can’t fix everything, but we for sure can do something. Let me give you an example. One day one of my employees came to me and said, hey Nir, I’m going to be gone for some mornings because my father has cancer. I have to drive him to chemo, I’ll be gone those mornings are we report those hours as vacation hours and I’ve tried to work remotely as much as possible. And that hit me in the face. I’ve gone through management courses, I’ve done workshops, everything, but nothing prepares you for cancer in the family. There’s no handbook for that. There’s no manual. What do you do? And I remember thinking, what do I tell him? And then I have a flashback to the age of 12 when I went to work with my father, my father was the operating manager over steel factory. People over there were low income hardworking people, but my father cared for them. He would drive some of them to work in the morning. One of his employees was addicted to drugs. He would drive in the morning to his house, take him out of bed and drive him to work. Why? He was a good employee and he knew that if he’s not gonna come to work he won’t have money to survive. One of his employees came one day crying. Hey, what’s that? What happened? She said, my son needs to celebrate his [Incomprehensible] and I don’t have money to celebrate it. I don’t have money for food and drinks. He just took out money from his own pocket and paid her. He said, hey, go celebrate. He cared for them above and beyond and you know what? They cared back above and beyond. This is a game changer. When you care for your employees, they will care back. So remembering that I had an insight. I told him, listen, vacation days are for vacation. This is not a vacation. Let’s go and talk to our team and see what we can do. I set up a group meeting and I told the other members of the team, guys, our friend is in trouble, he needs to be absent for some mornings. What can we do? I remember there was silence. No one’s spoke for like five seconds and then they started talking. I’ll do this, I’ll do that. I’ll fill here. I’ll fill there. And the team came together like this to help our friend. That was such an emotional moment for me. This is where I saw the power of team, the power caring. So yes, Yigal your so right. If you care for your employees, they will care back. They will care for your business. One day you’ll be sick or you’ll have something to do. Okay? You’ll get a phone call from school. Hey, come fast, I don’t know. Your kid doesn’t feel right. Come pick him up. Can you leave your store with your employees? If you care, probably the answer will be yes.

Yigal Adato: 18:20 I love that man. I think it’s something so empirical in the pawn industry that when I look at the successful pawn shops, the successful pawn brokers may be one store or chains of, you know, 17 stores. They care, they care that they can buy a new house. They care that they have enough money to live a good life. And it’s not just caring about how much money the business make, but caring about them. I just wrote a blog post which went out to the people in the Pawn Leaders, email lists which talked about an employee who was offered $2 more at the competition and $2 more was like a 20% raise. It’s a huge race. Within three months he was back and he said, I don’t care if they pay me $10 more. The fact that you guys care and have a great culture, I want to be here. And we know at that moment with my brother, we’re like, we’re doing something right. So to the pawn brokers out there listening. If you don’t care about your employees, they’re not going to care about your business and even a step further, they’re not going to care about your customers. And when your pawn broker doesn’t care about the customer, I guaranteed that customer will go to the next pawn shop. That’s it. It doesn’t matter if they lend less, it doesn’t matter if they sell for more expensive, they’re going to go somewhere else. So Nir, I love that. So we’ve had the conversation about the expectation. Where you given the expectation and then we’ve had the conversation about how to speak about how they don’t fit here from your perspective. What’s the next step?

Nir Megnazi: 19:54 Just letting them go.

Yigal Adato: 19:56 Okay.

Nir Megnazi: 19:56 We’re not a good fit. I’m doing this for me and for you, you will be better off somewhere else. Here’s how I’m going to help you find your next job. Hopefully if you can do that, that would be really a good example caring. And by the way, other people will know that this is the way that you let them go. Everybody knows everything today. We can’t hide anything. You want to go to sleep at night feeling calm that you did everything in your power to make his life good, and of course you take care of your interests which is perfectly fine, right?

Yigal Adato: 20:35 It’s a business of course.

Nir Megnazi: 20:37 It’s a business. But you also take care of the person even if it’s not working for you anymore and people will know that. It wasn’t a good fit. Everybody knew that he wasn’t a good fit. Usually we know that, but you know, we could have just let him go, fire him, but this is how we let them go. This is how you build culture.

Yigal Adato: 20:58 So you even build culture. This is awesome because you even build culture by letting people go like it’s that important in the process of letting people go. You’re building a better culture within your pawn shop because obviously the team has become friends and they’re on Facebook with each other. They’re on Instagram, they have their text messaging, and when they go, they’re going to text each other like, Hey, what happened? And it’s going to be, hey, Yigal is a piece of shit. Right? When he let me go or man, Yigal he fired me but they’re just such great guys. Like I don’t even know what to say. And you want the second version.

Nir Megnazi: 21:33 Exactly.

Yigal Adato: 21:33 Because then the employee that stays there was just going to think to themselves, man, even when they let me go they care. I’m going to love working here. I’m just going to keep giving my all and make this company more money.

Nir Megnazi: 21:46 Here’s the thing Yigal, caring culture I’m sad to say that, but it’s so rare today. So rare in our culture, in our environment today to care for someone else, especially in a business. Hey, this world has been won by money and people focus on money and then you come into business that says money is the second important thing. The people, the culture, the family around it is number one. Go ahead.

Yigal Adato: 22:27 Sorry. I just went to, I was in North Carolina last week and I went to a pawn shop called National Pawn. They have 17 stores, some of the most epic culture you can think of. And I want to read you and obviously their part of their mission statement and I know that they’re going to be okay with me sharing. It’s to have the highest paid and wealthiest team members in the industry. First Line of the mission statement, how would you not want to work there? Like carrying is first for the employee, caring is first to the team member because we want them to be the wealthiest and it was incredible when I saw that, it blew my mind to think that our mission is to make you $5 million. No, our mission is to serve the community. No. The mission is to have the wealthiest employees in the industry.

Nir Megnazi: 23:18 And here’s the thing, even if it’s not wealthiest in money, even if you know that your boss takes care of you, you work in a pawn shop, you get a phone call, hey, you’ve got to rush home. Why? Your kid has a fever? Come pick him up. And your boss looks at you and said, what are you waiting for? Why are you here already? Go pick up your kid. Family is number one. You know, you will never, well never is a big word, but that’s how you feel. You will never find a business or an employer like this that really takes care of you and your family.

Yigal Adato: 23:58 I remember it. So well, I had a employee whose father died and the father passed away in Calexico. It’s like a three hour drive and this is what he said. He goes, Yigal you know it’s Friday. I work Saturday, Sunday, I need to leave Friday morning and I’ll come back Friday to my shift after I’ve buried my father. And we said, are you crazy? Take the weekend. We’ll pay for your hours. Your father just died. And I remember seeing there in front of him and he started crying. He just said, I never thought the conversation was going to go this way. I always knew that you guys cared, but this is above and beyond. No, not to toot my own horn, but this is the type of things that we’re talking about. If you care about your company, about your team, that’s how you create culture first and foremost. Right?

Nir Megnazi: 24:54 Exactly.

Yigal Adato: 24:54 I love that man. So let’s get to, we’ve had the conversation with a pawn pirate and I mean we love [Incomprehensible] I’m sure a lot of people are like, Oh man, if I knew how to do that before, I would have like pawn pirate years ago. Let’s talk about the person who you know has, who you want there, who has such a great chance of being a great pawnbroker, but it’s just kind of missing the mark. Let’s talk about a conversation with them. How does that go?

Nir Megnazi: 25:24 Let’s take an example, and I wrote about it in my post, body odor.

Yigal Adato: 25:30 That’s a tough one. You can barely tell somebody to zip up their zipper, body odor is tough.

Nir Megnazi: 25:40 I just think about it. Approaching someone and telling them about their body odor. Oh, that’s a tough one. This is the personal space, which is not really business, although everything it is, right. Everything is. Otherwise you wouldn’t have that conversation, but this is the personal space and you don’t know what’s going on over there. Is this just that he doesn’t shower? Maybe it’s just deodorant or maybe it’s health issue. You don’t know and you’re so afraid of crossing that line into the personal space.

Yigal Adato: 26:19 Of course, of course.

Nir Megnazi: 26:22 But if you care, then you cross that line with your best interest to help him. And this is the mindset that you need to cultivate.

Yigal Adato: 26:33 Let, let’s go back. If you care, then you crossed the line.

Nir Megnazi: 26:38 You crossed the line.

Yigal Adato: 26:38 I love that.

Nir Megnazi: 26:41 For them first.

Yigal Adato: 26:43 Yes. Because obviously them having body odor is going to affect them everywhere else. Them having bad breath is going to affect them everywhere else in their life. Yes. So you as the manager, as the owner saying, hey brother, you know let’s go and to have a conversation. I’m even going to pretend to have it. How do you do?

Nir Megnazi: 27:00 [Crosstalk] mindset. Your first priority is their welfare, is their happiness, is their benefit, is everything is about them. Again, you take care of your employees, they will take care of the business. But it’s about people. So now it’s not Tom. Let’s say it’s Mike. Mike has bad body odor. If you care about Mike, you have to do something about it. Would he change? Will he stay at your store? Doesn’t matter. It’s the person in front of you. So again, you’re going to start thinking what will happen if you’d just throw things at him. Mike, you have bad body odor. Oh, he’s in my personal space. Oh, this is not nice telling me about that. Oh, what can I do about that? I have a medical problem. You take those feelings, you put them in writing and that’s how you start. Hey Mike, can we have a conversation again, same setting, safe, secluded, not around people and no one else can hear. So he will feel safe to open up and receive the message and respond. So all of his focus is on you and you start, Hey Mike, I want to talk to you about something. And you might not like it might feel that I’m invading your personal space. You might feel that I’m insulting you, but Mike, I think you’re an awesome employee. I see your future with us. I love the way you work with customers. I love the way you invest in our store. I just like it. So I feel obligated to you, to say that to you. Now what happened here? You set the stage. You said that, hey, you’re not going to like it. He’s already thinking about, hey, I’m going to fire you.

Yigal Adato: 28:59 You’ve taken it all the way up.

Nir Megnazi: 29:01 That’s it. Okay. But we know it’s not, but he’s already waiting for the worst case and in case of a good employee, it’s going to be something in the middle. Maybe when we’ll tell him about his body odor he will say, that’s it. Okay, I thought you’re going to fire me. So thank you and I’m going to take care of it. But he’s already thinking about the worst case and we’re going [Incomprehensible] down. And also, you also said this stage of how you appreciate him, that you’re doing that for him, that you see it as your responsibility to help him become better, to help his life. You haven’t said anything about odor but you have set the stage. Oh this is not some that happens to me. This will be a conversation for me. So of crucial. So Stage one. Okay, preparation. Then we had environment and we had setting the stage with how we will feel. Step four, why? What we think about him, where’s his place in this soar and how we believe in him. Then Mike, when we are around you and remember we are not saying you stink or you have bad body odor. No. Okay. Because then immediately, he will go into defense mode. Mike, when we were around you, people complain about bad body odor. Now, he knows it’s him. It’s not the first time that he heard that. He knows he has a problem. So you put it on the table, the observation when we are around you, we feel bad body odor, very hard for people to communicate like that. And what do you think people feel? How do they react to that? And then you again repeat how good he is, you’re an awesome employee. I want to help you with that.

Yigal Adato: 31:02 I call that the love Sandwich, right? Like, you give a compliment, you state the problem, give a compliment, you sandwich it together.

Nir Megnazi: 31:11 And the sandwich is tricky. Why is it tricky? Some people do it, I want to say like a format, but it’s not the format. We have to understand why we do the sandwich is first let him know that it’s not going to be the worst case. Then the problem and then when he’s in a defense mode to reinforce that we are there for him. So it’s a reinforcement, dude, I’m doing that for you. You’re such a good employee. I want to help you. And then we can start asking. I don’t know if it’s a health problem or just, you know, basic hygiene and I don’t know, even if you understand or aware of it. I like you, I want you to improve. I see your future here with us and then you don’t say anything more. Keep silence. Let him process it. Let him think about it and that moment of silence can take five seconds, maybe 10 but have a warm smile, loving, smiling and let him respond. Let’s practice it. Okay, let your audience hear how five seconds of silence sounds like.

Yigal Adato: 32:31 Let’s do it. Here we go.

Nir Megnazi: 32:32 Okay. So Yigal, I’m here for you. Those were five seconds of silence and many people don’t feel comfortable with that silence. They feel the urge to say something but don’t. Let him. Let him think about it. Let him process and then come up with his own response. Now you can’t control his response. It’s his, but you did control the way you serve that message to him, which was in the most caring, loving way. It doesn’t matter what will be the outcome of that conversation. You did the best for him. You can go to sleep with that in mind.

Yigal Adato: 33:23 I also want to say something Nir. Obviously this is all incredible and I want pawnbrokers to understand something. Nir keeps using the words caring and love and a lot of pawnbrokers out there try to shy away from that caring and love in the business because it’s a tough business, right? You’re lending money and you have to kind of keep your heart. I remember one pawnbroker taught me when you go to the pawn shop, you know, keep your heart outside and then when you go back home you put your heart back in. I want to make sure that you guys understand that it’s human nature to want to be liked. It’s human nature to want to be loved and its human nature to want to be a part of something. And whenever somebody feels like they’re not a part of something, they might act out. And when you give that love and that appreciation to employees, they feel like they’re a part of the culture and they give 10 times more than you ever expected. That’s why culture is so important. You’re not just building a culture to make money. You’re building a better culture to make people feel part of something bigger than just the bottom line. I’ll say that again. You’re building a culture to make people feel like they’re there for something bigger than just the bottom line and when they feel that there is no holding them back. They will sell more, they will pawn more, they will turn the customer over better. They’ll do so much more and that’s what you want.

Nir Megnazi: 34:55 And they will grow and they will learn and they would want to be better not just for themselves but for you. Because they haven’t found anyone just like you that cares about them.

Yigal Adato: 35:09 I love that Nir, I think that this industry needs more love and care because we come from such a scarcity mindset, right? The person across from us is trying to get the best deal and we’re negotiating all day long and it’s all about dollars and cents and about the gold and the value of the PS4 and we believe that there is an emotion behind it. When I spoke with Chris Voss for example, there’s a ton of emotion behind negotiating and when you bring emotion into it, it’s okay. Obviously there are HR rules that you have to follow and you know, make sure that you follow the HR rules for your state. But know that when you lead with kindness, when you lead with caring your culture will be so epic. It will just blow the competition apart really, really well.

Nir Megnazi: 35:58 And you’ll see people that come and ask to work for you.

Yigal Adato: 36:02 Yes. You see, one of the biggest problems in this industry Nir, and I love that you said that. Everybody says it’s so hard to find good employees. It’s so hard to find good employees. I understand that. But you having a crappy culture makes it even harder. When you have a great culture, they will recommend their friends to come work for you. When somebody says, I need a job, they’re going to say, I work in the best company ever. Come check it out.

Nir Megnazi: 36:28 Yup. And they will take care of you.

Yigal Adato: 36:31 That’s right. Love that man. So Nir just to make sure that we finished off after the five seconds. Obviously the employee has processed the bad body odor and that’s when they come up with their response. Right? The response can either be, I’m so sorry I had no idea this was affecting other people or what do you mean I have bad body odor and they can get a little bit defensive I’m sure, but you’ve already toned down the worst case scenario and so then the conversation, I think there’s one more part of this Nir. I believe part of my 10 keys to leadership is courage. It’s key number two and having courageous conversations makes you a better leader and this is courageous conversation.

Nir Megnazi: 37:15 It is a courageous conversation.

Yigal Adato: 37:16 Even if it’s bad breath, even if it’s bad body odor, even if it’s like, hey, I don’t feel you as motivated as when you first came in because that happens. Having courageous conversation is what puts leaders apart from non leaders, for me. When you can sit in the chair and have the conversations that Nir is talking about and we talk about body order because it’s funny, but also it happens, right? I think when you have a courageous conversation, your leadership just goes to a different level and you also allow for your team to know that you can lead, because when the tough conversations need to happen, Yigal can have the conversation with me. He’s not afraid to have a conversation with me or others in this company when it needs to happen, love it.

Nir Megnazi: 38:09 And he has our back.

Yigal Adato: 38:10 Yeah, that’s right. Love it. Nir when you have conversations like this, what happens to the connection between manager and managee, employer, employee? What happens to that relationship? When you have that courageous conversation and you come from a place of love or consideration for other person.

Nir Megnazi: 38:39 I feel there’s a reciprocation. When you feel someone caring about you, you would like to care about them. There is a connection. There is some bonding. We as human beings, we like to bond and when someone takes the step and we know it’s a courageous step and he builds the courage to come and talk to you about the personal stuff. You might be angry, you might push back, but then when you go home, you think these guys really cared about me and it’s not for his business. He cared about me as a person. Maybe this is an important point. When you talk to them, don’t say you can’t come with bad body, order to work. Big mistake. That delivers the message. Work is important. You’re not. No, for you as a person I care about you. And when someone cares about you, you care back. You’ll do much more for him. You’ll care about him. They will care about you, about your business. If they’ll see something wrong, they will come to you and say, hey Yigal, this is wrong. This is broken. 50% of the times they would actually go and fix it themselves. They won’t even talk to you. That will be their second home, their second family, for most people, not everyone, and I’m sorry for that. Family is a sacred thing, is a warm thing, is the place where you feel secure that people take care of you. [Incomprehensible] for everyone sadly. But you can create that environment by doing those courageous conversation, by caring through those conversations.

Yigal Adato: 40:29 And just to let everybody know, going back to the pawn pirate, if you keep the pawn pirate around, you are building insecurity within your company. It’s your fault people are scared. It’s your fault people aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do because they are insecure because that pawn pirate is there. And the faster you have courageous conversations like we’re talking about with Nir, the better off you are. So I like to challenge everybody listening. Everybody I believe has to have a courageous conversation with an employee, with maybe if you’re an employee of a pawn shop, a manager, maybe with a spouse, maybe with a family member, maybe with a community member. So I challenge you to kind of go back relisten to this and use the steps that Nir is suggesting, which are I think are incredible steps and have that courageous conversation and know that I might not go just as planned cause that happens I’m sure Nir, right? But know that when they get home they’re going to respect you more. They might not like you more but they’ll respect you more. As Pawn Leaders our goal is to build that incredible culture within our business, within our home and within our relationships. So with that Nir I want to thank you for being on. You have been incredible. I know this is your first podcast. Right?

Nir Megnazi: 41:57 [Incomprehensible] thank you for having me here.

Yigal Adato: 41:59 I knew you would be awesome just from the conversations that we had. So tell people how they can find you. Where do they can kind of read more about what you write on leadership and culture building.

Nir Megnazi: 42:09 So you can find me on LinkedIn or on my website nirmegnazi.com and probably Yigal will send the link with the podcast. I have my blog over there. Everything I post on linked you’ll also find on the website. You can connect with me through there.

Yigal Adato: 42:24 Yeah. I’ll have your website in the show notes also Nir, I’m going to officially invite you into the mastermind to give a 30 minute masterclass, if that’s okay with you.

Nir Megnazi: 42:34 I love that.

Yigal Adato: 42:34 For the mastermind members. Also, if you’re not part of the Pawn Leaders Podcast Community, go to Facebook and go to Pawn Leaders Podcast. Check it out. Also check out pawnleaders.com to download the three pillars of profitable pawnshops. Nir it’s been an honor. Thank you so much for being here brother.

Nir Megnazi: 42:51 Thank you.

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For more information on Nir Megnazi head over to: https://www.nirmegnazi.com/